BENGALURU:A major Pangolin trafficking gang was busted by the Shivamogga wildlife division on Tuesday with the arrest of four persons.
With concerted investigations going on for four months, forest official say, more than 50 families from Halugudde village in Siddapura Range, Kudremukh Wildlife Division, were found to be involved in the trading of the most trafficked mammal in the world.
Operating in the jungles of Western Ghats, this gang of wildlife hunters and traders have revealed details of their operations that stretch across districts. Possessing all skills for hunting, they entered protected and territorial areas, set up camps for 8-10 days, hunted pangolins/other species rampantly and supplied them to two brothers from Rannebennur.
A team of RFOs arrested Uttamsab and Rajabhakshi from Ranebennur (who are alleged to be the kingpins at the state level) and Ganesh and Krishna (Halugudde) from Ripponpet. On a tip off received from a source, forest officials arrested them — who were part of the May 12 pangolin killing at Siddapura.
Relating the four-month-long probe that involved the trail from Siddapura - Davangere to Ripponpet, the Siddapura RFO said, “After the May 12 case, we started checking the antecedents of Ganesh from Halugudde village. Our search revealed and unfolded a big group who were involved in hunting/supplying pangolins.”
Forest officials add, “We need to investigate further as they have a network of people involved in wildlife trading. Spread across two territorial and two wildlife ranges, we found that these families were operating in Dakshin and Uttar Kannada, and other areas and regularly supply Pangolins to Rajabhakshi and Uttamsab, who in turn sold them to agents and maybe further to international markets.”
Meanwhile, police sources say that these nomadic families had deposited huge amounts of cash during demonetisation in a public sector bank in Ripponpet. Further, ACB raids revealed international traders/agents using these nomadic families as conduits for depositing their ill-gotten money.
The Pangolin
Most trafficked mammal in the world for its meat and scales
Rising demand from China and Vietnam
SPL PROBE TEAM
On May 12, this year, seven hunters were arrested red-handed with a dead pangolin by Siddapura wildlife officials and the department suspecting a ‘big poaching network’, constituted a team of four Range Forest Officers of Hosnagar, Ribbonpet, Mugudthi and Siddapura to investigate the case.